N&W in 1908 -- Wreck on the Clinch

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
March 7, 1908

TWO NEGRO MEN AND WOMAN HOBO KILLED
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Eight Loaded Freight Cars Piled in a Heap in Cut at Baileys on the Clinch
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FREIGHT TRAFFIC TIED UP AND PASSENGER TRAINS TRANSFER.
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    Eastbound freight train No. 94 was wrecked in the cut at Bailey on the Clinch Valley division of the Norfolk & Western yesterday morning at 6:30 o'clock, and as a result two negro men and one negro woman, classed as hoboes, are dead, and eight loaded freight cars lie in the cut bent, twisted and broken into every conceivable shape.  The train was composed of thirty heavily laden freight cars and was moving along on the heavy down grade at a pretty lively rate when it dashed into a mass of rocks and dirt that, being loosened by the recent thaws and rain, had slided [sic] down the mountain onto the track.  The engine was not thrown from the track by the force of the impact and passed through the rocks and dirt, but the jar brought down tons of loose rock and dirt which rolled under the wheel of the moving train, overturning the first car and bringing the whole train to a sudden stop with the result that eight cars were totally demolished and piled up in the narrow cut.  The engine was derailed and turned across the track.
    The tramps were riding on the third or fourth car and two of them, an unknown man and woman, were killed outright.  The third, Henry Johnson, colored, aged 23, of Lexington, KY., was badly bruised and had both legs mashed.  Dr. Pyatt, of Tip Top, was summoned and temporarily dressed his wounds.  He was later brought to Bluefield and died about 9 o'clock last night.  None of the train crew was seriously injured, although Engineer Light had a hand slightly mashed.
    The company at first intended to bring the negro man and woman to Bluefield, thinking that they might here be identified, but the woman had evidence of smallpox and they were therefore buried in crude coffins beside the track.
    The Bluefield wreck car was called and arrived upon the scene about 7:30 o'clock.  All day long yesterday the work of clearing away the debris was carried on, but owing to the awkward position of the wreck the work was slow and at a late hour last night much yet remained to be done.  The wreck crew began work from the east end and the engine was first righted and pulled into the Bluefield yards.  The tender, however, was so badly damaged that it was simply rolled over into the ditch.  The cars are being pulled out slowly one by one or rather piece by piece and the coal is being loaded on flats and hauled to the yards in the city.
    The freight traffic over this division is tied up and the passengers have to be transferred around the cut.  Yesterday afternoon there were three corpses on No. 11, and these had to be carried by the section hands from one train to the other, a distance of about 300 yards.  General Superintendent Johnson and Superintendent Becker were both on the scene yesterday directing, supervising and seeing that the work was being pushed on as fast as possible.
    It is reported that the trackwalker had passed through the cut only a few minutes before the wreck and at that time the track was clear, as it is highly probable that the jar of the approaching train started the slide.  At any rate much of the earth fell after the engine had passed, for piled up against and on top of the last car was a mass of earth and stone.
    Assembled on the hill on both sides of the cut was a crowd of country spectators, men, women and children, who watched the work all day.  These people gave much credence to the report that several other bodies were under the mass of coal and they waited hour after hour, but in vain to see if their suppositions were not correct.
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[Was the female victim the legendary Boxcar Bertha?  Probably not because I think the latter came later.]
Gordon Hamilton
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